Yosemite National Park

The combination of time off from work or school and an appealing destination will entice some Americans to spend at least part of the upcoming holidays in a park. For some it's an annual tradition; for others it's a special, one-time trip. Does a visit to a national park figure into your holiday plans?

A request by the Restore Hetch Hetchy organization that the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission hold a public hearing on the question of restoring the Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park has been denied.

Visit the national parks next summer, because who knows what shape they'll be in in 2013. That was the message Monday evening from National Parks Conservation Association officials in reaction to the failure by Congress' supercommittee to craft a deficit reduction plan.

One of the popular backcountry winter treks in Yosemite National Park is the 10-mile ski to Ostrander Lake. If that interests you, and you'd like to spend some time near the lake, now's the time to enter the lottery for a night at the Ostrander Ski Hut.

A budget battle could be brewing in Congress over funding for the Interior Department. On the sidelines, the National Parks Conservation Association will be lobbying for more money for the national parks in the fiscal year 2012 budget.

eBird is a helpful took courtesy of the folks at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society that makes it easier for you to keep track of your birding life-list. Let's take a closer look at how it functions.

Kathleen Hull’s Pestilence and Persistence: Yosemite Indian Demography and Culture in Colonial California, is, above all, a timely book, if not a necessary book. Timely in the sense that current relations between Yosemite Indians and park administrators are finally showing signs of mutual accommodate after decades of mistrust.

Big wall climbing is hard enough, but to do it without a thumb...well, it would be difficult at best. Fortunately, when an Austrian climber lost his right thumb in a fall, Yosemite National Park rangers sprang into action with a rescue that reunited the climber with his thumb.

Even before Yosemite became a national park, tourists who endured the wearying journey to Yosemite Valley and suffered the valley's many discomforts were refreshed by some very special amenities at the Cosmopolitan Bathhouse & Saloon.

Ian Shive, who has traveled the National Park System to capture its unique and spectacular landscapes in his cameras' viewfinders, has been honored with the Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography.

There's certainly lots to see in Yosemite National Park, what with the soaring granite walls, wispy waterfalls, and the spectacular high country. And there's lots to hear, too, when you consider all the interpretation programs and park tours. Deaf visitors don't need to miss those programs, as the park's Deaf Services Program is ready to offer sign language interpretation.

Finally, the most-anticipated month for visiting national parks has arrived. That's right, September, the month when apples ripen and are ready for picking. From Pennsylvania to Utah and on west to California, the desire to bite into a nice crisp apple, or pick a bag or bushel for pies and sauce, are luring visitors to parks.

Better drainage, reduced infrastructure, and better protection of giant sequoias are the end goals of a plan by Yosemite National Park officials to restore the Mariposa Grove in the southern end of the park.

For years I've been searching for railroad memorabilia tied to the national parks: Posters, luggage stickers, calendars, even timetables from the Northern Pacific, Great Northern Railway, Southern Pacific, Union Pacific.

There are times when one national park jaunt could entail several national parks, and so you think you'll need several guidebooks to the parks on your itinerary. Well, if you're heading to the High Sierra parks of Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon, there's just one book you really need.

Rather than risk visitor and staff safety in the rockfall zone below Glacier Point, Yosemite National Park officials are proposing that 72 rental units closest to that zone be permanently removed from the area.